2006 Ron Paul 77:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition to this resolution, as I strongly feel
that we need to be careful about how we commemorate
the tragic events of September
11,2001. Several times over the past four
years I have voted in favor of these annual 9/
11 resolutions because they simply commemorated
the tragic event and urged our
continued vigilance in an increasingly dangerous
world. I believe using the event to promote
particular legislation or foreign policies,
however, denigrates the memory of those who
perished in that attack.
2006 Ron Paul 77:2
Much of the legislation referenced in this legislation is legislation that I supported. For
example, I voted in favor of the Border Protection,
Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration
Control Act of 2005 and for the SAFE Port Act
of 2006. I continue to support measures that
help secure our borders and thereby make us
less vulnerable to future foreign attack. However,
I find it particularly unacceptable to heap
praise on the PATRIOT Act, as this bill does.
This act expanded the federal governments
power to an unprecedented degree at the expense
not of foreign terrorists, but of law-abiding
American citizens. It opened average
Americans up to wide-ranging government
snooping and surveillance in matters completely
unrelated to terrorism. For example,
the sneak and peek provisions of the PATRIOT
Act allow law enforcement to enter
someones home without a warrant, search
that property, and never inform that citizen
they had been there. Also, libraries and book
stores can be forced to provide the government
with citizens borrowing and purchasing
history without showing probable cause. I see
no reason to applaud such an un-American
piece of legislation.
2006 Ron Paul 77:3
Mr. Speaker, I believe we should show due respect the victims of the attacks of September
11, 2001. Congress patting itself on
the back over legislation it has passed since
then strikes me as disrespectful to those who
suffered and continue to suffer from the attacks
on New York and the Pentagon.